noncommissioned officer
2
6.2
- noun
- /ˌnɒn.kəˈmɪʃ.ənd ˈɔː.fɪ.sər/
- Specialized
:
suboficial
- As a noncommissioned officer, she was responsible for training new recruits in the military.
- noncommissioned officers (NCOs)
- senior noncommissioned officer
Examples
-
There is also a special advanced course for career noncommissioned officers taken in the middle of their careers.
Academic text (1996) -
Noncommissioned officers (NCOs) behaved with distinction in both the Army and Marine regiments.
Academic text (1995) -
Ladies and gentlemen... officers and noncommissioned officers, your attention, please.
-
But as a noncommissioned officer, you are aware of the barrier... between your class and mine.
-
If I like a soldier, he can get to be a noncommissioned officer quicker here than anywhere else.
-
Prewitt, you know better than to talk back to a noncommissioned officer?
-
Noncommissioned officers, enlisted men, dismissed!
-
The average age of 23 is consistent with the general nature of war: younger men fight wars; the two 42-year-old noncommissioned officers were career soldiers.
Academic text (1998) -
At least two months had to be served as a noncommissioned officer (NCO).
Academic text (1995) -
Rob currently serves in the U.S. Army as a public affairs noncommissioned officer stationed at Fort Knox, KY.
Blog text (2)
Synonyms
2
8.1
A military leader who used to be a soldier and commands a small group
Antonyms
- Specialized
3
3.6
A member of the military who has power from the government to give orders
How High
636
4.2
- Specialized
3
3.6
- Specialized
2
6.2
76
3.7
149
3.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'noncommissioned' (not commissioned / appointed from enlisted ranks) combined with 'officer' yields an officer who is not a commissioned officer but promoted from the enlisted ranks. Although it is military jargon, the negative prefix and noun composition follow standard, transparent morphological patterns that a B1 learner who knows the constituents can understand.
Etymology
The name noncommissioned officer comes from the idea of a 'commission', an official paper that gives someone the right to be an officer. If a leader came up from the regular soldiers without that paper they were called non-commissioned, so today a noncommissioned officer is a leader promoted from the ranks who has authority but not a formal 'commission'.